During a recent episode of his podcast, “Something To Wrestle,” WWE executive Bruce Prichard reflected on some of the greatest crowd reactions he’s experienced in WWE.
Prichard cited two WrestleManias as the loudest he can remember: WrestleMania X-Seven in 2001 at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas.
Looking back at WrestleMania 17, the Houston crowd was amazing all night. The cheers when Linda McMahon got out of her wheelchair were deafening. The crowd was into everything we did.
Bruce Prichard also brought up the Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock match at WrestleMania the following year in Toronto, Canada, because of the live crowd, and in particular their reaction to Hogan.
Listening to Hogan and Rock speak to the crowd in Toronto, they wanted Hulk Hogan. They wanted their guys, they wanted the red and yellow. They didn’t want any Hollywood crap.
Bruce Prichard, shortly after Hulk Hogan returned to WWE after a nine-year hiatus (most of which was spent in WCW), used this example to make a perfect distinction between WWE fans and WCW fans.
And that’s the power. When you talk about how great the nWo was and what they accomplished, at the end of the day, the bigger audience (WWE) wanted Hulk Hogan, the red and yellow. They didn’t want Hollywood Hogan. So when I preach about different audiences, the WWE audience and the WCW audience are different audiences. The WCW audience hated Hulk Hogan in red and yellow because he represented what WWE was all about. But the WWE fans wanted Hulk Hogan. So it was an incredible response to be a part of that.
Bruce Prichard speaks out against retired wrestlers returning
WWE executive Bruce Prichard recently spoke about the trend of retired wrestlers returning for “one more match” in an attempt to recapture past glory.
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